Museums as Witness: Telling the Story of Residential Schools
Emma Wilton
June 29, 2026.
The BC Museums Association gratefully acknowledges funding support for this project.
Content Warning: This post contains content about Residential Schools, denialism, and genocide.
A note on safety, self-care, and self-regulation. The content covered in this post can be triggering and upsetting. As you read and think about this information, try to pay attention to your body’s cues that you might need to come back to this topic another time. Your well-being is important.
If you are an Indian Residential School survivor or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
Bearing Witness is a multi-faceted term. It does not mean just to look to the past but also taking responsibility for the future. You bear Witness through your actions. Everyone has their own personal way of bearing Witness. Witnesses watch and listen, and then remember and retell what they learned. (The Witness Blanket)
Museums as institutions have the responsibility to bear Witness
Museums hold stories, identities, and Belongings in their collection. When a museum shares Residential School Survivors’ stories, whether that is through Belongings, first-person recounting, audio, or video, visitors can bear Witness. They come to museums to learn, and with that, they take away what they heard, read, or saw to share with others. As Carey Newman says:
Bearing witness means finding ways to live in the present that are rooted in the truth of the past and that move us all toward a better future. (The Witness Blanket)
By accurately and truthfully telling the history of Residential Schools in Canada, museums play an important role in combatting Residential School denialism. Currently, we see a frightening rise in Residential School denialism in Canada. It’s important to understand why and how people deny the truths of Residential Schools.
History professor Sean Carleton (University of Manitoba) says that residential school denialism is not the “outright” denial of the system’s existence, but instead is the rejection or misrepresentation of basic facts about residential schools to undermine truth and reconciliation (2021, 467). In 2025, the British Columbia Conservative Party kicked out MLA Dallas Brodie for her comments minimizing the experiences of Survivors (The Tyee). In October 2025, the BC Assembly of First Nations publicly called for Brodie’s resignation (BCAFN). With the rise of residential school denialism, museum professionals need to educate themselves on how their institution can best approach telling the history of Residential Schools and sharing Survivors’ stories.
There is no one way of doing this. This work is vulnerable and emotional, and it requires patience. There are some steps you can take to ensure you are going in the right direction.
Understand how and why people deny experiences around residential schools. There are 3 broad categories of residential school denialism:
- Personal Knowledge – they bring personal anecdotes that refute abuses based on positive experiences they heard or witnessed.
- Ignorance & Anti-Indigenous Racism – they rely on personal beliefs, eschew historical evidence, and fundamentally fail to grasp a systemic critique of residential schools.
- Worldviews in Collision – they simply cannot (or are unwilling) to comprehend that Indigenous Peoples have their own cultures, customs, languages, etc., that residential schools sought to eliminate; they see assimilation as a benefit.
Familiarize Yourself with the Region
Get to know the history of residential schools in your area. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has over four million records relating to residential schools across Canada and the US. Those records can be accessed here.
- Use their map or list to find the residential school closest to your institution.
- Look through the documents that are held for that school; look closely at the information
- What and whose story are they telling?
- Whose perspective is it in? Is it coming from the teachers, church, doctor, parent, government?
- What are the dates? Does this line up with any historical/significant events in your area?
- Do you recognize any of the names?
- From this information, can you find anything in your institution’s collection that might speak to or better illustrate what the time was like? Can you find any of the names mentioned in the residential school archive in the collection your institution holds?
Build Relationships with Indigenous Peoples
Building relationships with local Indigenous communities takes time and requires patience. The ability of your institution to tell stories of the Residential School from local survivors and inter-generational survivors will take trust.
- Do you know any local Indigenous people who are willing/wanting to share their experience(s)?
- Is there someone you can talk to for consultation purposes?
- Does the local Indigenous community have wants/needs for education of residential schools? How can your institution help the community, or ease the burden of educating the public?
- If you already have relations, have you discussed the topic of residential schools with them?
Belongings as Witnesses (Collections)
Working with the collection, are there items in your institution that speak to the experiences of residential schools? Or are there items that help people relate to the time that you are discussing?
It’s important to understand that the Belongings in your collection are Witnesses:
“Ruins and other material traces of the past share a basic characteristic with human witnesses: they and their potential testimony can outlast the moment in which an injustice occurs… Past injustices and suffering still matter, whether they happened 10 or 10,000 years ago.” Pollock and Bernbeck 2018, 540.
Even if you don’t have belongings that come from, or were born out of the residential school system, you may have Indigenous Belongings that speak to what was trying to be eliminated (cultural practices: weaving, beading, processing raw materials) through residential schools. What are some of the ways you can share these stories (newspaper column, blog post, exhibit…)?
Sharing the Truth (Exhibits)
Writing, designing, and displaying material on residential schools is heavy work and can be emotionally exhausting. Ensure that you are in the right place to take on this work.
Research
Gather different perspectives/sources on residential schools. This can include Belongings from your collection, materials from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and/or personal stories from Survivors (or intergenerational Survivors).
Writing
Determine your audience. Determining your audience will help you write the material. If your institution gets a lot of international tourists, this audience type might want broad strokes, such as the general timeline, purpose, effects, and so on of residential schools, and may not come with a basic understanding. Canadians visiting your institution could come with a basic understanding and may want to dive deeper into individual experiences of Survivors. Audiences who come from the town/area that your institution is located in may know Survivors and be more knowledgeable about the local history.
Present a holistic interpretation of residential schools. Present the different perspectives (government, collection, Survivor) in a way that engages and educates visitors. Museums are places of education and conversation. Choose language that doesn’t speak down to the audience. You want the visitor to come to a conclusion on their own, based on what is presented to them.
Creating Relations (Programs)
Sharing personal stories and experiences through Survivors (or intergenerational Survivors) provides a personal and intimate account of what happened at residential schools. These events/programs do not always need to be centred around National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30.
When putting on programs and events about residential schools and personal experiences, you want to ensure the safety of everyone involved and prepare for people to have strong emotions/reactions to the topic.
- Let audiences know that they can leave the space at any time to take a moment to themselves.
- Provide content warnings at the beginning of events or programs.
- Ensure you have a counsellor (Indigenous or non-Indigenous) to assist people if there are strong emotions.
- If Survivors are providing testimony and sharing stories, try to allocate as much time as possible.
- Provide contact information for support/crisis lines:
- 24hr Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
- KUU-US Crisis Response Service: 1-800-588-8717 (1888-494-3888 for Vancouver Island)
- First Nations Health Authority: 1-877-477-0775
- If the Nation/community you’re working with has their own supports, provide those.
- Leave room at the end to have a conversation between the audience and Survivors.
Know There Are Limits
If someone comes into your institution already denying the truths of residential schools, there is little opportunity to change that person’s perspective. Your goal regarding the history of residential schools should be around:
- Educating the public to lessen the burden that is often placed on Indigenous Peoples.
- Creating a safe and welcoming space where people feel comfortable to challenge preconceived ideas/notions.
- Having visitors leave with a better understanding of the truths and histories surrounding Residential Schools in Canada.
Once you have gained an understanding of residential schools in your area, share it with the rest of your institution. By listening, learning, and supporting Survivors and their truths, you have taken on the responsibility of being a Witness. With that responsibility it means that you share what you have learned with others. Combatting residential school denialism should be a goal for everyone and anyone working or volunteering in a Canadian cultural institution.
Key Terms
Cultural Genocide
The deliberate and systematic destruction of a culture. It is not ethical to destroy the culture of another group of human beings or change it without their consent. (EBSCO)
Genocide Denial(ism)
The attempt to minimize or redefine the scale and severity of a genocide, and sometimes even deny a genocide is or was being committed. There are two goals in genocide denial: cast doubt on charges of genocide and silence Survivors. (Operation Broken Silence)
Colonization
The process by which a foreign power establishes control over a territory and its people, leading to significant social, economic, and cultural transformations. Frequently involves the exploitation of Indigenous populations. (UNESCO)
Cultural Assimilation
A tool used in cultural genocide; in Canada, Indigenous People lost their languages, spiritual practices, and knowledge systems through Residential Schools and other assimilative practices (i.e., the Potlatch Ban).
Reflexivity
A continual internal dialogue and critical self-evaluation of your positionality, which leaves you changed in its wake.
(Olmos-Vega et al. 2023. “A practical guide to reflexivity in qualitative research: AMEE Guide No. 149.” Medical Teacher 45 (3): 241-51.)
Truth-telling
The “right to truth” encompasses not only the victims’ (and their families’) right to know, but also the right of a people ‘to know the history of oppression that is part of its heritage.’ Truth-telling can also restore trust and repair relationships between the victims of human rights violations and their communities. (Payne & Norman. 2025. “From the heart: strengthening community-based truth-telling practice in Australia.” Australian Journal of Human Rights 31 (1):42-62)
How Museums Can Respond to Residential School Denialism
Museums, and all arts, culture, and heritage spaces, have a critical role to play in confronting residential school denialism. This post is the first of a series of resources the BC Museums Association is developing to support our sector in being prepared to address residential school denialism in all forms - from online comments, to in-person questions, to internal misinformation.
